High times on the Eastern Fringehttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com
A 40k blog of adventure and heresy.Mon, 13 Aug 2018 10:46:33 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/8bad7c46f4509d9c348ac4de191861f8?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngHigh times on the Eastern Fringehttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com
Paint job: Crypt Ghoul Courtierhttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/paint-job-crypt-ghoul-courtier/
https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/paint-job-crypt-ghoul-courtier/#commentsMon, 13 Aug 2018 07:18:07 +0000http://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/paint-job-crypt-ghoul-courtier/The bonfires roared in the dark and cold night. The first frost had come making the air crisp and clear. The man walked around the encampment with his head held high. Not like he once had done, cowered and cramped. His hand rested on the hilt of his newly forged sword. His clothes of red velvet signalled his stature.

Boros was the king’s courtier and these were his people. He knew them all and trusted his life to them. Just as they trusted him. Oaths had been taken, and each was bound to next man and all to the good king.

They had all lived through the troubles together. From the dawn raids of the mountain tribes, the Chaos serfs that pillaged their hamlet for decades to the scourge of Sigmar. To the tribesmen they were nothing but slaves and sports and to Sigmar nothing but the enemy’s means of maintaining the war. No one saw them for what they truly were, what they are. Free people. Men and women. War had left their lands a blackened waste of burnt crops and reeking fields.

Desolation.

Starvation.

Hunger.

Hunger still cuts like knife in his belly. Hunger made him hollow; less than the man he was; less than the man he ought to be. Oh, the endless hunger. The Good King made him whole again. He made them all whole again. The king had walked at the head of a great army that night, so many years ago. He wore clothes of the finest silks and his armour was bright like the sun itself. He asked nothing of them but loyalty. He gave them so much more back.

The king had filled their bellies with meat again. After every battle they celebrated with a banquet. The courtier looked around at the men and young lads of his battalion. Their cheeks had turned fat and rosey. Life was good again.

+++ +++

Here’s a little nugget to kick off Age of Sigmar. Yep, we’re taking the plunge. I’ve picked up a Kharadron Overlords starter box so this one is not for me but for my good friend Andreas. He’s starting a Flesh-eater Courts army.

Flesh-Eater Courts have some of the best fluff in all of Age of Sigmar. Delusional cannibals under the thrall of a insane vampire lord believe themselves to be serving a good and noble king. You should check it out, it’s pretty awesome.

This is a Crypt Ghoul Courtier, the leader of the lowly Crypt Ghouls. He does buffs the unit in some way. I don’t know.

The rain battered down hard on the makeshift barracks in the mining district. In a corner laid the company Astropath beating his head against the floor. “Black Sun. Black Sun.” he kept repeating. He had done so for the last fourteen hours. His face was in a pulp, blood, gore and vomit covered his clothes. They should have put him down but with the Commissar gone no one had taken it upon himself to execute the poor bastard. And in the light on things, no one really cared.

The tank ace Tavarin let his tongue run across his row of teeth, counting the gaps. Seven. He cursed the deal the techpriest had brokered but at the same time couldn’t help feeling relief. Seven teeth to fulfil their oaths to the Emperor; this was the price they had to pay. The Techpriest walked up next to the tank ace, sensing his conflict.

“Remember that the flesh is weak. Clinging to weakness is the first step to heresy. Such is the teachings of the Omnissiah.”

Tavarin looked back at the Techpriest, he was far removed from an semblance of humanity. More machine than anything else. “And what does the Omnissiah teach regarding dealing with the Xeno?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He gestured to his tank crew, carrying the ammo crates, to set them down and open them up. The ammo crates were filled to the brim with teeth. Seven teeth from each living soul holding the mining district.

The team tournament two weeks ago was fun. We only had the opportunity to play two games, on Saturday we was lacking a team so we opted out and on Sunday, well, it was the World Cup finals so … The first game wasn’t much to talk about. We faced a Marine/Marine team that wasn’t very optimal. We steamrolled them with our Necronids. But they fielded some awesome Rogue Trader models including a vintage Dreadnought. The game on Sunday had everything the first game lacked – nerve, intensity and suspense. Our opponents, who had gone undefeated day one, had a pretty optimal Orks and Astra Militarum list. It was something like this (from memory):

We played ITC mission 4. There was a big quirk in the tournament format in that we played four player turns per battle turn. Each team had a player A and a player B (randomly determined), and the turn sequence was player A do his turn then opponent A does his after that player B do his and finally opponent B does his turn. It was a fun change but time consuming.

We rolled up Spearhead deployment and we finished deploying first but didn’t get first turn. Yikes! Our army really want the Necrons to go first and deliver the alpha strike. We went second and Necrons were our player B. Double yikes! This meant that we would face several turns of hard long range fire from the Astra Militarum while the Orks pushed forward into our lines. We were in for quite a challenge.

+++

The Tyranid vanguard had harassed the Imperial forces on the planet for weeks before the Black Sun Solstice occurred. The Genestealers had infiltrated much of the populated areas such as the mining district and launched constant attacks and ambushes. The nose slowly tighten. Morale fell. And this was before the Necrons appeared.

With the first pulse of the Black Sun the Tomb World hidden deep beneath the eons of dust was awakened. The pyramidal structures of the Tomb World rose from the ground and within them legions of warriors sprung back to life after millions of years of sleep. The newly awoken Overlord tried to assess the war between the Imperium and the Tyranids. While his warriors marched with him, most of his might was still dormant. This left him in a precarious situation, his world was vulnerable. They had been drawn back to life all too soon.

The Overlord ordered his warrior automatons to assist the Tyranids as they stormed the Astra Militarum garrison in the mining district. Should the Imperium break here the Tyranids would be able to advance towards the Hive and he would have his precious time. In his countless iterations of the battle to come he had not foreseen the Orks fighting alongside the Imperium …

+++

Turn 1

After some pre-battle shenanigans from the Necrons, where they used the power of the C’Tan Deceiver to move the Warriors and Cryptek up the pitch claiming the three objectives on the mid-line, it was time to get the party started. The Orks went first moving forward with everything. After a few potshots from the boys the big Gorkanaut charged the Warriors doing quite a lot of damage.

I reacted and moved up my two big blocks of Stealers, I rolled good Advance rolls due to being Kraken and was in position to charge both the Gorkanaut and one of the units of Boys. I got the Horror off on the Gorkanaut and Catalyst on the Stealers charging it. But I forgot about Catalyst later in the turn, which was really dumb. I charged in with everything. I did make a huge mistake when positioning the unit charging the Boys. I didn’t maintain coherency, as I wanted to keep one hanging close to one of the Broodlords. For some reason I remembered the rule wrong thinking that you only needed to maintain coherency in the movement phase. Thankfully the error didn’t effect the game.

I started by activating the charge on the Gorkanaut, knocking it down a tier. The Boys intercepted and attacked my Stealers killing almost half of them. I tore down about the same number of Orks. A bad trade counting the points. But my mistake was eliminated at least. The Gorkanaut killed a few Genestealers but was mostly ineffective due to Horror and being damaged. I wrapped up the Fight phase by activating my Genestealers again and wrecked the Gorkanaut.

Now, here comes the pain. The Astra Militarum rolled up its tanks and began to fire away. Making twelve plus eleven Battlecannon shots and awesome stuff like that. But for all that lead flying across the battlefield he only managed to wipe my Stealers that destroyed the Gorkanaut and was left stranded. This is where I forgot about having Catalyst on them, oh well … The Necron unit that had taking Pask firing 40 shots, hitting 37 times, still stood there ground. One robot was saved using two Command Points.

The Necron turn saw mediocre resurrection rolls and mostly ineffective shooting. The Overlord used Veil of Darkness and took his Immortals up the pitch to reinforce our hold of the objectives. One thing you need to remember is target priority and scoring. The Ork Big Mek was exposed and gunned down by the Necrons. Why? He wasn’t a threat but by taking him out we scored an additional point by killing more units.

The Orks continued to move forward and charged the Warroirs. The Weirdboy got Smite off sending mindbullets into my Genestealers killing six of them while taking a wound back to Perils. Close combat was brutal against my poor Genestealers, I only had one poor sucker left from my two big blocks the Ork turn.

I was running low on models but I still had scoring capability. I slingshot a Broodlord up the pitch using my last Command Point on Opportunistic Advance. The 20″ move positioned him for a charge on the Weirdboy. But I rolled snake eyes on the charge roll. So there he stood. The other Broodlord charged the Boys killing five. He’s a grinder, no doubt. The Power Klaw put a lot of wounds back but this time I didn’t forget about Catalyst and saved a few. My lone survivor fled back to hide from shooting while my 8-man unit of Genestealers positioned for the coming Scions deep strike.

The guard shot my Broodlord who had failed the charge dead and then the Leman Russes killed the Crypek. The Hellhound burned a some Immortals but they were rolling hot on their saves. The Scions dropped down in our backfield but failed to kill anything substantial. My Venomthropes did wonders shrouding my backfield.

The Deceiver shuffled around dealing Mortal Wounds while e Warriors and Overlord killed a few Boys in hand to hand. The Inmortals had another decent round of shooting. A few Immortals stood back up and lit up the Boys that had killed my Genestealers. Almost killing the unit, the last ones fled in the Morale phase. The Orks only had a single CP left but couldn’t save the unit with the reroll. With both my Broodlord and the surviving Boys in the same combat we had to roll of to see who would go first. The Boys still had their Power Klaw alive. We rolled off, I won and the Broodlord went to town killing the remaining Boys. We managed to max out the Reaper in this round!

We were still in the fight but it was looking very thin indeed.

End of turn 2:

AM/Orks 5 (Objetive, Kill, Kill More, 2 Head Hunter) – Total score 8

Necronids 7 (Objective, Kill, Recon, 4 Reaper) – Total score 13

Turn 3

The smaller unit of Boys that had started in the back tried to make Da Jump but the Weirdboy couldn’t harness the Warp the remained stranded in the backfield after failing their charge too.

With very few models left I tried to charge one of the Scions squads with my Venomthropes but I lost one to overwatch and the last one only killed one. Not enough to force morale and not enough to kill them all and get a Consolidate move out of harms way. My Broodlord who had consolidated into the carelessly positioned Hell Hound put a few wounds on it.

The Astra Militarum shot stuff. Those tanks had been putting the hurt on us all game and this round was no different. They killed my lone Venomthrope, both units of Warriors and the Immortals. But they couldn’t kill any of our Characters. The Hell Hound went up claiming an Objective while a group of Scions did the same. They now controlled three and we only had one.

The Necron force was reduced to the Overlord and the Deceiver. The Overlord contested the Objective held by the Hellhound and the Deceiver claimed the one in the middle and dealt a few Mortal Wounds but didn’t amount to anything. We managed to steal the objectives back and thus denying a VP.

We won! I might remember stuff wrongly, we tallied up the score to 17-15 when we played but I just can’t remember how we scored those extra points anymore. Anyway, it was an awesome game. Nail biter. It had it all. It was really a great game against two good players. I had this feeling that we had racked up a substantial led in the two first rounds but I also knew that it would be close. The Astra Militarum fire power was just gruelling. In the end the Ork had maybe twelve models left, I had seven, the Necrons two and the Astra Militarum had lost maybe five or six. His 1000 points was basically intact after the game.

But you win on points, not on model count.

+++

“Fall back!”

The order from Tavarin echoed through the comms. “Scions, apply Kill Team doctrina. I’ll see you all back at the base.”

The armoured units carefully retreated while their weapon systems continued to roar. The enemy may have won the battle but they were shattered now. And the Orks had taken the force of the blow, shielding the Astra Militarum. “They had fought well”, Tavarin thought “…and died even better.” He ran his tongue over the gaps in his mouth and couldn’t help but smile. A fistful of teeth. That had been the price to live to fight another day.

Aramis cursed the day he got his hand on Skullstalker. He loved the damn thing of course, it had saved him more times than he cared to remember and helped him land more plunder for the crew and captain than he could remember. It was a marvellous machine but he hated it too. Hot, ill tempered, noisy and cramped. His back always started to ache just by looking at it. He could barely fit inside. His knees pushing up against his cheekbones. It wasn’t really meant for a man inside not one with both a upper and lower body at least. But Aramis had pulled out the hardwired Servitor and retrofitted it for him to use. At least he still could get inside.

There was two ways of getting inside, both were cumbersome and time consuming. One was to remove the boiler and squeeze yourself inside the other was to disassemble it, get inside and have the crew bolt it back together again. “Let’s face it, I’m not teenager anymore”, he used to say to himself before he started to disassemble it.

Getting out of it wasn’t much easier. In a pinch he could blow the emergency charges, which basically severed it in half, and make a run for it. He’d done that once, the bang had almost deafened him. And the ringing didn’t go away for more than a week. He preferred to have the boys pick it apart instead.

The last chuck crunched firm and tight. He was locked inside. “I got a red on six. Probably just some rust. Can you yank it for me?” Aramis asked the crew after a light had lit up during the start up routine. The crew greased the hinges on the leg and hammered away until the rust released its grip. Aramis gently pushed forward and Skullstalker began to walk across the deck. He checked the ammo again, fully loaded.

“Brilliant! Tell the Captain we’re ready.”

+++

Here’s something out of the blue for you all – about a year and half ago I started working on a INQ28 Warband for the Chapel. It based around a Rogue Trader and his crew of ragtag privateers. I never got around to finish it. I made a couple of kitbash models but never got around to painting them. Until now. I converted this odd skull thing from the Promethium Refinery kit into a small combat walker. Just for the fun of it. I added a Heavy Bolter, repositioned the legs a bit and made room for Aramis inside.

Meet Aramis and Skullstalker.

Black and moody ones first.

Then some bright and sunny ones.

Here’s a couple of close ups on Aramis inside Skullstalker.

And finally some more shots of Aramis.

Oh, one more for size.

I’m super excited about this conversion and paint job. Very grim dark and very 40k. Hope you guys like it too. Oh, this also means I finished another hobby challenge (Jewel of July).

Keep on keeping on!

]]>https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/07/23/paint-job-aramis-in-skullstalker/feed/29img_7393thomasgorinThe Black Sun Solsticehttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/the-black-sun-solstice/
https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/the-black-sun-solstice/#commentsFri, 13 Jul 2018 17:49:09 +0000http://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/?p=2365I have written a bit of lore for a tournament tomorrow. It’s a continuation of the Armageddon Crusade that we played back during Easter (check out the background lore). The tournament is a tag team tournament, 1000 points each. I’ll play my newly painted Stealer Shock army for the first time and Andreas will bring loads of Necron Warriors. We are team Necronids aka the Kings of decent attacks. It’ll be a blast.

The Black Sun Solstice

Three heavy thumps from the heralds staff announced the presence of High Commander Castess on the Throne Bridge. Her white ceremonial dress uniform was impeccable. She glanced across the deck, at her honour guard and the officers gathered. They stood along the sides leaving floor in front of the throne to the mighty warriors of Adeptus Astartes. There was three of them, giants one and all, dressed in full Power Armour. The blueish grey was worn, beaten. On their pauldrons she could see their heraldry, a black wolf howling at the moon on yellow background. They were Space Marines of the Space Wolves Chapter.

One of them stood in front of the others, she could tell he held rank from the markings on his armour. The others did not. He had his wolf’s head shaped helmet in his left hand. It was painted black. His red hair was in a mess and the braids of his long beard had started to come loose. The two Astartes behind him still wore their helmets. They held a big crate between them. No one spoke nor acted, they just stood there waiting.

She could smell the blood and oil off their chainswords and the sweat off their leaders bare head. They had spared no time coming here. The wolves had brought the battle with them onto the command deck. The war was here. Castess continued to view them from her throne, looking down on them. ‘Why have they come?’ She had already been informed of the progress and there was no need send emissaries after ever leg of the campaign. Her thoughts were interrupted by another thump of the Heralds staff .

“Kneel before Mistress Irissa Castess, High Commander of the Armageddon Crusade.”

One of the Wolf brothers growled but was cut off by their leader. He spoke, controlled and resigned: “I’m sorry, Mistress, but we kneel to none but the Great Wolf on Terra …”, he paused. “… and you are not He.”

+++

The blue and gold reflected in the silver armour that laid there on the ground. The man inside was still alive, broken and dying but alive. His armed twitched, as he tried to raise the Gatling Cannon at the Thousand Son walking towards him. It twitched but no more. Sol Mikh’Ar knelt beside the fallen Grand Master of the Grey Knights. The ancient Dreadknight Armour was riddled with holes. Many of the them still hissing from the sorcerous bolts that brought this mighty champion of the Immortal Emperor low. Mikh’Ar carefully removed the Grand Master’s helmet, placing his bare hand on his forehead.

++ Brother ++ he sent telepathically ++ How do you think our unforgiving father will judge your betrayal? Will he understand? ++

The Sorcerer’s hand burnt the flesh as he probed the bulwark of his enemy’s psyche. The Grey Knight lashed out at sorcerer, his incorruptible soul sparked with a blinding light of a hundred suns but Mikh’Ar refused to severe the psychic bond. ++ Do you think your life time of service and fealty will redeem your honour after you’ve done what you will do? ++

+++

A moment of absolute silence followed the wolf’s words. But as they sank in a rattle of arms readying and humming of power weapons activating ran across the Deck. The urgency of the situation was felt by Mistress Castess. Etiquette was truly wasted upon them. They were warriors. Barbarians. She chose her words carefully.

“Without protocol, he serves no purpose but I guess that we past the point of formaliy.” She nods ever so slightly and the Herald’s escorted out of the Throne Room. “Now tell me, Sons of Russ, what brings you here?”

“We are not here to share tales from the burning of fallen Valeria but to share with you dire truths from the Arch-Scriveners. We have all been misled, taken for fools by those who want to see this Crusade end in failure.” The wolf paused, he was uneasy talking in front of the crowd on the Throne Deck. “On the Shrine World we discovered evidence of a most sinister threat, a threat that had been reported to us earlier but discarded …”

He raised his chainsword, pointing it without activating towards the Mistress. Castess stood without motion, letting the Wolf play out his act. The chainsword slowly moved to her left, pointing towards the darkness behind her. “… by your advisor.”

“Yes, we have all been informed of the ravaging Ork, of how the likes of Snikrot have ambushed of Emperor’s Adeptus Custodes and pushed them back.” The wolf continued. “This while the Grey Knights have fought the Daemon incursion on Yerrow. Successfully banishing at least two vile princes of the Dark Gods. Necron resurgence have been meet by our Astartes brothers, their monoliths brought low by controlled destroyer fire patterns. We know all this, Mistress, and we know more. There is a pattern hidden deep with this madness of War. The true enemy is yet to reveal himself. But we know now that the enemy at hand is the Thousand Sons. They are pulling strings unseen to us. From this nothing good will come.”

“Mistress, we are beyond the Great Rift.” From the shadows behind Castess emerged a man wearing heavy robes of regel blue cloth. A cherub hovering by his left shoulder. He ran his hand through his scant beard. Half speaking, half whispering, he continued: “This is the Dark Imperium, the Eastern Fringe. We are far from where rationality and order reigns. The Warp and all its horrors are strong here but faith in the Emperor protects us. Stray from his light, Mistress, and you’ll be chasing your shadow much like I fear the Wolves are chasing theirs.”

The leader of the Space Wolves felt anger rise within him: “You spell treason, worm tongue. The truth remains unchanged, the Thousand Sons are plotting something and we shall all suffer, lest we act accordingly.”

“On your command, leach, we were sent to Valeria to end the reign of the Arch-Scriveners. This is done, their shield worlds are broken, the Great Wolf shielded us against their Baneblades and Leman Russes and nothing now remains of the Arch-Scriveners’ rule.”

+++

++ You could make this easy on yourself but you will not. You will resist, you will struggle. But in the end you will fail, just like your brothers. ++ The Sorcerer moved the Grand Masters head, allowing him to pan the battlefield. His Paladin Guard, his brothers of a thousand battles and hundreds of years of war, laid motionless on the ground laid beside him. Dead. Beyond them he could see the Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons casting spells of reanimation on the fallen Rubricae. Dust swirled back into their arcane armour and they stood back up again. ++You will make us both suffer before the inevitable completion. Your betrayal.++

++Speak no more, traitor.++ The Grand Master steeled his soul, again trying to severe the psychic bond. Blood filled Mikh’Ar’s mouth but he refused to release the Grand Master and slowly the surge died down. He swallowed down hard.

++Do you remember the Blood Moons of Karashir? Of course you do, you did the Emperor proud that day.++ Mikh’Ar deepend the bond, probing the bulwark of the Grand Master. ++The daemon you hunted, what did they call him?++

++I remember. I remember banishing the foul thing.++ The Grand Master had no strength left to fight the Sorcerer. Within his mind’s castle walls he prepared his soul for the end. ++They called him by a hundred different names but most common was the Harvester of Deceits. You ask me questions to which you already know the answer.++

++Yes, I do. Forgive me.++ Mikh’Ar expanded his reach inside the Grey Knight before biting down hard. He knew that it would hurt soon, more than before. The Grand Master must have sensed it too, mustering the last of his strenght.

++You will fail, traitor. My soul shan’t be tainted.++

++You soul is safe, brother, I do not aspire for it. All I want is the name of The Harvester of Deceits. Tell me his one true name.++

++Never.++ The Grand Master roared as raw power rushed from him. Blood shot from Mikh’Ar’s eyes, his hand erupted in flames. He screamed of pain for what felt like an eternity before he released him. Mikh’Ar fell back on the ground and just laid there catching his breath. He slowly sat back up again, carefully composing himself, reforging his mind. The Grand Master was on the brink of death but still dangerous.

“Thank you, brother.” Mikh’Ar spoke softly. “That was all I needed.”

An avian beastman walked up next to them. He was covered in runes and symbols of untold power, carrying trinkets and a staff with a burning eye. The sorcerer held his eyes fixed on the Grey Knight’s when he started to send to the Tzaangor Shaman.

++Just follow the trail in his mind, it will lead you to the name. Consume it.”++

The Shaman sunk his golden beak into the Grand Master’s head, cracking his skull in a gush blood and gore. The Grand Master was beyond pain and could just stare back at the Sorcerer as he was eaten alive. “Sometimes, brother, it is good to remind yourself that there are more primitive forms of magic. You protected the name well, I could never reach it. But your protection of it revealed where it was and that is all I needed. My Tzaangor will do the rest. The name is my. And the betrayal is yours.”

++I pray the Emperor will be more forgiving to you than he was to us.++

+++

“Nothing remains”, scoffed the advisor. “All is gone. How convenient for you that only your preposterous accusations remain. Nothing else. Mistress …”

The chainsword growled, silencing the advisor mid-speech. He cowered back towards the shadow. “Nothing remains of their rule.” The Space Wolf nodded and his wolf brothers put the crate they held between them down on the deck floor. In a swift motion one of them opened it up, reach inside and pulled out an naked old man. The broken body was held up high for all to see before it was thrown at the High Commander’s feet. The old man moaned and instinctively sought protection, crawling behind Castess. “I give you, Waltor, the Master of the Arch-Scriveners of Valeria. Our Runepriests have delved into his psyche, dug deep into his soul. We know what truths he holds. We know that he discovered the presence of the Thousand Sons in this Theatre of War and warned us all of the same.”

“Do what you please with him, Mistress. The Space Wolves shall ready ourselves for the coming storm. We suggests you do the same.”

Forge a Narrative

The Black Sun Solstice is the second instalment of the Armageddon Crusade campaign for Warhammer 40,000. The first one saw the Imperial Crusade grab a foothold in the subsector, crushing the initial resistance on the worlds of the Altwon Tract. But victory is far from won. Far from the battlegrounds and killing fields something sinister is steering; the Thousand Sons are drawing the stars into alignment awakening an ancient evil thought banished for all eternity. Binding it to their will. And as the wheels of fate turns, reality bends to ways of sorcerers of the XV Legion. The true end of the Thousand Sons’ scheming may still be well hidden, the immediate effects are not.

On the Agriworld of Muse the peasants celebrates solstice when their sun reaches its zenith, turning first to blood and then fading to black. Within the Black Sun the The Harvester of Deceits is awakened. Released from one prison and cast into another. Inside the Black Sun his rage knows no bounds. With every curse and spiteful word he speaks the Black Sun throbs, emitting baleful, sorcerous energies with each pulse. Across the subsector unthinkable alliances are forged in the wake of the Black Sun Solstice, war escalates drawing more world into its flames.

And the metal from which the Armageddon Crusade is forged will be tested like never before. Can the Crusade maintain its momentum in the aftermath of the Black Sun Solstice? Will true purpose of the schemes of the Thousand Sons be revealed in the flames of the burning subsector?

As the narrative progresses the games fought during the Armageddon Crusade tournaments continue to develop the story. The fate of the Altwon Tract is still ours to forge and the story arc is more open than ever. Record your victories and defeats and help forge the narrative further.

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war …

That’s all folks!

]]>https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/the-black-sun-solstice/feed/6img_7182thomasgorinBlack Sun frontWIP: Thermic Plasma Regulatorshttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/wip-thermic-plasma-regulators/
https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/wip-thermic-plasma-regulators/#commentsThu, 21 Jun 2018 09:34:36 +0000http://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/wip-thermic-plasma-regulators/I’ve started working on a bit of terrain, trying out the paint scheme for my Promethium Refinery. I think I mentioned before that I wanted to painted yellow. Anyway I did and it took me a good three four coats to get a solid yellow on the panels. You can see the big Refinery tank in the back of the picture below but the this post is mostly about the Thermic Plasma Regulators. The kit is really great, it’s pretty cheap and it gives you a two cool industrial terrain pieces. The size is decent too.
The kit is easy to put together and the fit is good too. They are unglued in this picture.

One of the best things about the kit is the fact that you actually get two unique sprues. You might think that both Regulators are identical but that’s simply just not the case. You can mix and match the pieces and create several different versions. This alone makes the notion of picking up another box an attractive prospect.

I’ve decide to keep the platforms off at the moment. I might paint them later and add them to Regulators or I might keep them off permanently. The platforms are designed to fit the other platforms in the Sector Mechanicus range.

Here’s two snaps of my work in progress:

The one to the left has been shaded on the yellow and as you can tell it makes a world of difference. Loads of work left to do but it’s a fun project.

Keep the fire burning!

]]>https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/wip-thermic-plasma-regulators/feed/14img_7037thomasgorinPaint job: 50 Genestealershttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/paint-job-50-genestealers/
https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/paint-job-50-genestealers/#commentsWed, 20 Jun 2018 08:29:37 +0000http://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/paint-job-50-genestealers/It must have been was way back in 1990 or 1991 and I had never heard of Warhammer or 40k before. See, I was a young lad back then, barely a teenager. I remember entering the school were the gaming convention was held, checking out the shops and all the games set up. If I’m not mistaken were we there for role playing but a big part of the experience was just wandering around checking out stuff.

In one of the classrooms on the upper floor a bunch guys had set up this massive game board of rooms and narrow corridors. It felt like stretched across half the room. Nervously I asked one of the older guys what game it was and he told me that the game was called Space Hulk and began to explain the setting and the game itself. After awhile he looked at the clock and said:

– We’re about to get a game going, why don’t you grab yourself a few Terminators and join us?

I did. I believe I had a regular one with Stormbolter and Power Fist and a dude with Lightning Claws. Of course my dudes died horribly because that’s what the Marines do I Space Hulk but I was hooked. For life it seems. I played a couple of games over the weekend and eventually picked up the game.

Space Hulk is probably the game I’ve played more than any other game. I picked up all the expansions and used to make my own maps on squared paper. And house rules for regular Power Armoured Space Marine (before Games Workshop released them) and Imperial Guard And we played and played and played. Nine times out of ten I played the Genestealers.

I have a life long relationship with the Vanguard of the Tyranid Hive Fleets. Heck, they weren’t even part of the Tyranids first. Anyway, the original box came with a lot of Genestealers. I painted less than a handful way back when but most have remained bare plastic blue all these year. Neglected minis. When I picked up the awesome 4th edition a few years ago I just added the Genestealers to the pile of older unpainted minis.

But all that have changed. I originally intended to call this post – I painted 50 Genestealers in two weeks and they look kinda crappy but here they are – but I actually don’t think they look that bad. I’ve organised the Genestealers into three squads. Two big blocks of twenty and a single unit of ten. I know I have more Genestealers kicking about in boxes and whatnot. Eventually I’ll have three units of twenty painted but for now, 50 will have to do. To separate the units from another I painted a coloured line on the base of each model – red, blue and yellow. It is both visible and discreet. As you’ll see there is a Genestealer with a blue tongue in each group of five. That’s an Acid Maw. I used blue to tie the Acid Maw to the blue of the Venomthropes.

What do you say, want to see some pictures?

The Red Brood

The Yellow Brood

The Blue Brood

I’m very pleased with the Genestealers (or Greenstealers as I’ve come to call them) and the rest of the army. I took my less than three week to paint a 1000 points which is something I never done before. Quite a feat for me. I’ll add these units to my Junit tally. I’m looking forward to the tag team tournament in July. They will all learn to fear the Assault of the Greenstealers.

As a treat, I’ll give you a snap of the entire army.

From the void, we devour!

]]>https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/paint-job-50-genestealers/feed/16img_7034thomasgorinPaint job: Venomthropes, depleted unithttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/19/paint-job-venomthropes-depleted-unit/
https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/19/paint-job-venomthropes-depleted-unit/#commentsTue, 19 Jun 2018 04:49:39 +0000http://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/19/paint-job-venomthropes-depleted-unit/Ok, this unit lacks a model but I wanted to showcase it anyway. I’ll paint the missing one once I get it back but until then here’s the other two Venomthropes of the unit. I wanted to use the same restricted palette as I’ve used on the other models in the army while adding only blue to enhance the acidic nature of these beasts.

Venomthropes are a pretty good damage mitigation unit. A friendly <Hive Fleet> unit within 6″ gets shrouded by its spores and the enemy gets -1 to all ranged to hit rolls. While not cheap at 90 points for three, I’m quite certain that they will make those points back against most armies. (But then you’ll run into something like Dark Reapers and they become absolutely worthless.)

Let’s check out the scary space squids some more!

First model

Second model

Keep on trucking!

]]>https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/19/paint-job-venomthropes-depleted-unit/feed/4img_7031thomasgorinPaint job: Broodlordhttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/paint-job-broodlord/
https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/paint-job-broodlord/#commentsMon, 18 Jun 2018 08:57:15 +0000http://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/paint-job-broodlord/Another Broodlord done for my Tyranids, this time around it is the model released during the awesome Blood Angels versus Hive Fleet Leviathan campaign that Games Workshop released as part of the preparations for the 8th edition. I made some slight conversions, most notably I placed the Broodlord on rubble rather than on that weird Tyranid Xenoscape piece.

No moody pictures this time, just simple model on white.

I hope you can dig it.

]]>https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/paint-job-broodlord/feed/10img_7029thomasgorinPaint job: Ripper Swarmshttps://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/paint-job-ripper-swarms/
https://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/paint-job-ripper-swarms/#commentsSat, 16 Jun 2018 12:27:47 +0000http://hightimesontheeasternfringe.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/paint-job-ripper-swarms/The Chestbuster in Alien is, without a doubt, one of the scariest space monsters ever. It is just disturbing. It grows inside you and claws its way through your flesh in its own becoming. Essentially devouring you to live. Yes, I get it, it has something to do with pregnancy. It’s not very subtle. Disturbing nonetheless. Another scary concept is packs of rats. Not necessarily space rats or mutant killer rats, the common earth rat will do. The thought of being overrun by an endless sea of rats …. yeah, I think you get the picture.

In Warhammer 40,000 nothing combines the two quite like the Tyranid Ripper Swarms. In-game they are a decent troop choice. Cheap as chips, somewhat durable and small enough to stay out of sight. A funny thing about them (and other Swarm units) is the fact that they aren’t Infantry. So they can lock big stuff like Imperial Knights in close combat.

– My mommy always said there were no monsters, no real ones, but there are …

+++ +++ +++

Three weeks have passed since my last post, where I showed you a couple of test models for my Hive Fleet. I can finally show you a finished model. This is the Broodlord/Patriarch from Space Hulk, fourth edition. This is a very cool model and the original crouching Genestealer boss. After Games Workshop released this model they made not one but two versions of it. Yeah, it’s just that awesome.

The Broodlord is a real shredder in-game. Psyker, close combat beast and force multiplier. Not cheap at 162 points but I’m looking forward to putting it to good use. More pictures!

The paint job is very straightforward and easy to replicate. Sure, there are some blemishes and mistakes here and there. But I’m very pleased. Trust me when I say, this is just the first of many posts on Hive Fleet Baba Yaga. I hope you like it and tag along for the ride.

Oh, I’ll claim challenge credits too as this means that I completed Azazel’s June-Unit paint challenge (Junit for short). Too bad I didn’t finish it in May since it was a very much neglected and forgotten model. More of those to come.